Policy interventions designed to bolster employers’ resources (like the ARS SAW/RTW program) and advance the flow of information (such as programs that provide case management services for workers with health problems) should help employers who need assistance in these areas, assuming the employers know about them.

Employees’ own characteristics also play a pivotal role in whether employers make real efforts to accommodate and retain workers. Even when community- and organization-level factors are the same, employers take different actions for different employees, depending on the employee’s tenure, work performance, role, and health problem.

This brief summarizes the findings from interviews with human resources professionals at 14 organizations in Arkansas to understand the most important factors influencing employers’ efforts to support and accommodate workers with health problems. The interviews covered the availability of resources, the ease (or difficulty) of communication between the affected worker and other stakeholders, and the characteristics of the worker.